Table Of ContentTED TALKS STORYTELLING TECHNIQUES
Master The One Thing All Great TED Talks Have in Common
by AKASH KARIA
Akash Karia
best-selling author of
“How to Deliver a Great TED Talk”
© 2013 by Akash Karia All rights reserved.
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BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR:
How to Deliver a Great TED Talk
Storytelling Techniques for Powerful Presentations
Public Speaking Mastery
Own the Room
Public Speaking Tips from the Pros
Stop Negative Thinking!
How Successful People Think Differently
YOUR FREE GIFT
As a way of saying thank you for purchasing this book, I’d like to offer you my free eBook,
“How You can create Brilliant Openings & Capture the Full Attention of Any Audience in 30
Seconds”. You can download the free eBook here:
Click here>> http://AkashKaria.com/FREE
TABLE OF CONETNS
Chapter One
THE MAGIC INGREDIENT IN DELIVERING A GREAT TED TALK
Chapter Two
THE ‘STORY START’
Chapter Three
THE SURPRISING ELEMENT THAT MAKES A STORY IRRESISTIBLE
Chapter Four
PROVIDE SENSORY DETAILS TO BREATHE LIFE INTO YOUR CHARACTERS
Chapter Five
CREATE MENTAL MOTION PICTURES FOR YOUR AUDIENCE USING ALL OF YOUR
SENSES
Chapter Six
PROVIDE SPECIFIC DETAILS
Chapter Seven
THE POWER OF POSITIVE STORIES
Chapter Eight
THE SPARK, THE CHANGE AND THE TAKEAWAY
Chapter Nine
WRAP UP
CHAPTER ONE
THE MAGIC INGREDIENT IN DELIVERING
A GREAT TED TALK
What is the secret to delivering a great TED talk?
What is the magic ingredient that makes a TED talk captivating?
TED talks (www.Ted.com) are some of the most inspiring and amazing talks you’ll watch.
Each presentation is eighteen minutes long, meaning that speakers on the TED stage have a
difficult job. They have to distill their expertise and their life’s work into only eighteen
minutes. Essentially, they only have time to share one idea, which requires them to ask the
question:
“If I could leave my audience with only one single key takeaway message, what would
it be? If my audience was to forget everything else I said, what one single idea or
lesson would I want them to remember?”
Not only are the ideas that are shared on the TED stage profound, the speakers themselves
are some of the best presenters you’ll ever see. Unlike the boring, dull, lifeless corporate
presentations you hear these days, TED talks are powerful and captivating. They keep you
hooked onto every word. The speakers on the TED stage are confident, powerful and
persuasive.
So, what is it that makes these TED talks so inspiring?
What are the secrets of delivering a powerful TED talk?
And more importantly, how can you use those secrets to make your presentations more
powerful, dynamic and engaging?
To try to answer these questions, I studied over 200 of the best TED talks. I broke each TED
talk down in terms of structure, message and delivery.
talk down in terms of structure, message and delivery.
So, what did I discover?
What was the magic ingredient that made a TED talk captivating?
What was it that made the best TED talks inspiring - which is a word that is often associated
with TED talks?
Here’s what I discovered. After studying over 200 TED talks, the one commonality among
all the great TED talks is that they contain stories. Essentially, the best speakers on the TED
stage were the ones who had mastered the art of storytelling. They had mastered how to
craft and present their stories in a way that allowed them to share their message with the
world without seeming like they were lecturing their audience. That’s just one of the
advantages of stories - they allow you to share your message without your audience feeling
like you’re preaching to them, which in turn makes it easier for them to accept your
message.
In this short guide, you are going to learn how to use stories to make your presentations
engaging and inspiring. You’ll learn how to craft stories that keep your audience
mesmerized. You’ll also learn how to use stories to make your message memorable.
By the time you’ve finished this guide, you will have picked up twenty-three principles on
how to create stories that keep your audiences hooked onto your every word. Whether you
are giving a TED talk or a corporate presentation, you’ll be able to apply the principles used
in this guide to make your next talk a roaring success.
Ready? Let’s get started...
IN A NUTSHELL
The one thing that all great TED speakers have in common is that they are master
storytellers.
CHAPTER TWO
THE ‘STORY START’
How many speakers have you seen that hooked you into their presentation within the first
thirty seconds?
How many times have you attended a presentation, and within the first thirty seconds,
thought, “Wow, this is going to be good!”
Not many?
Don’t worry.
As a public speaking coach, one of the questions I get asked most often is, “What’s the best
way to begin my presentation? How do I open my speech?”
The opening of a presentation is one of the most important parts of the presentation. If you
don’t grab your audience’s attention within the first thirty seconds, they are going to
mentally tune out of it - and it’s going to be very difficult to bring them back. You only get
one chance at making a first impression, so you better utilize it well.
I have seen too many speakers open their presentations in boring, dull and lifeless ways.
The most common (and thus boring) opening is, “Thank you for inviting me. My name is
XYZ and I want to talk to you about...” This opening literally sucks the excitement out of
the room. If your audience members were excited about listening to you, they certainly
aren’t going to be after that opening!
So, what is the best way to open a speech?
You’ve probably guessed it: open with a story.
In her great TED talk (http://bit.ly/10gmj3t), titled The Power of Introverts, Susan Cain
masterfully hooked her audience into her speech with the following opening. I highly
encourage you to watch her speech, if you haven’t already.
Analyzing the effect a presentation has on you is a fantastic way to learn what works
and what doesn’t when it comes to public speaking. Therefore, as you read the
following opening, consider how it makes you feel. Does it arouse your curiosity? Does it
invoke any memories? Does it make you interested in the rest of the presentation?
“When I was nine years old I went off to summer camp for the first time. And my
mother packed me a suitcase full of books, which to me seemed like a perfectly
natural thing to do. Because in my family, reading was the primary group activity. And
this might sound antisocial to you, but for us it was really just a different way of being
social. You have the animal warmth of your family sitting right next to you, but you
are also free to go roaming around the adventure-land inside your own mind. And I
had this idea that camp was going to be just like this, but better...”
- Susan Cain, TED talk (http://bit.ly/10gmj3t)
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ARE BORING
Notice how Susan doesn’t open her speech with introductory remarks. She doesn’t bore
her audience with an introduction of herself (the introducer/emcee should be the one who
introduces you before you get up on stage). She doesn’t bore her audience with gratitude
by trying to express how thankful she is that she was invited to speak at TED. Instead, she
immediately dives into a story. The best way to thank your audience for the opportunity to
speak to them is to deliver a speech that keeps them engaged, interested and involved.
DIVE INTO THE STORY
The reason Susan’s opening is powerful is because she dives straight into the story. Starting
your presentation with a story one of the best techniques for getting your audience’s
attention:
“When I was nine years old I went off to summer camp for the first time. And my
mother packed me a suitcase full of books...”
The above opening is powerful because:
